Featured Post

The Charter ( Medical Professionalism in the New Millennium.A Physician's Charter) did not deal with just the important relationship of ...

Thursday, July 11, 2019

Ed Whitlock's marathon record for age 70 has been broken-well sort of

Gene Dykes, age 70, a retired computer programmer , ran a marathon time time of 2:54 23 at the 2018 Jacksonville Florida marathon . This is faster than the previous accepted "record" of 2: 54 48 set by legendary Ed Whitlock for runners age 70 and over.

But the time may not be "official" record time according to the US Track and Field Association who said that the race was certified by them but was not "sanctioned" which includes a fee paid by the race organizers to the USTFA as well as a requirement to buy insurance from them .As of July 10 2019 Wikipedia lists Dykes as holder of the age 70 record.

According to the USTFA a race must be sanctioned by them for any record setting times to be counted .

So far Whitlock still holds undisputed records for the marathon for ages 75,80 and 85 as well as numerous other age records.

Both Whitlock and Dykes have had their maximal oxygen uptake measured.

Dykes had a 02 max that was surprisingly low for a very accomplished marathoner , 46.9 ml/kilo/min. But he could run at 93% of his 02 max before reaching his lactate threshold.

For comparison, Whitlock's 02 max at age 70 was 52.8 and 54 at age 82.